Q&A With GLSEN Founder: LGBT Teachers Still Face Barriers
Kevin Jennings, who founded the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (or GLSEN) in 1990, has fought against LGBT discrimination in schools and been active in passing school-based anti-discrimination laws for more than two decades. After leaving GLSEN in 2009, Jennings served as an assistant deputy secretary in the U.S. Department of Education until 2011. He currently is the executive director of the Arcus Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to global human rights and environmental conservation.
In 1994, Jennings published One Teacher in Ten, the first of what would be three essay collections by LGBT teachers documenting their coming-out experiences in the United States and abroad. The third, and most recent, volume was published at the end of August and reflects the growing ease that teachers have about being "out" in their school communities, even as many LGBT educators still feel forced to live in the shadows.
Commentary Intern Luke Towler recently caught up with Jennings by phone to discuss the essay collections. Jennings shared his thoughts on the barriers LGBT teachers and students face and the evolving climate in urban and rural schools.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
—Photo by Jurek Wajdowicz
EW: When the first edition of One Teacher in Ten was published in 1994, many of the teachers used pseudonyms to avoid being identified as LGBT by their communities. Now, more than 20 years later, how have teacher and student perspectives about coming out changed?
JENNINGS: I think that the change in the 20 years since the first edition of One Teacher in Ten came out is mind-blowing. To be completely honest with you, to do the first edition in 1994, I pretty much had to twist the arm of virtually every LGBT teacher I’d ever met.
In the new edition, only one person uses a pseudonym in the entire book. And it’s incredible to think how far we’ve come in terms of the fact that LGBT teachers, like their straight colleagues, increasingly feel they can just be open and honest about who they are. Some people say: “Well, why do they need to talk about it?” And my first reaction to that is: “Well, straight teachers talk about what they did on the weekend with their husbands or their wives all the time.” Why should LGBT teachers be living under a double standard?
EW: In the latest edition of your book, One Teacher in Ten in the New Millennium, some teachers, but not all, even note the inclusive environments in rural and urban communities. While there is a growing acceptance of LGBT individuals, how can rural and urban communities continue to improve their climate so that LGBT students and teachers feel welcome and safe?
JENNINGS: Well, the first thing that needs to happen is every district needs a policy saying that it does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. It’s very hard for somebody to feel like they’re protected when the policy doesn’t protect them. It comes as a shock to many Americans to find out that in 29 states you can be fired still for being gay or lesbian. And in 32 states you can be fired for being transgender.
So we still have a long way to go just in terms of putting in place basic policies that make people feel protected because in reality, in most states in this country, they are not protected. What I find interesting, though, is the fact that there isn’t always a Q&A With GLSEN Founder: LGBT Teachers Still Face Barriers - Education Week: